Chapter Thirty-One: Eldest Brother's Ambition

  "Not bad. I'll announce the expansion of the quota later. Let's do this, dispatch the Imperial Rhodes Third Fleet and the Black Sea First Fleet to cruise in the Western Mediterranean, replenish supplies along the way in the Italian states, and return after arriving in Aragon. The main force of the Rhodes Third Fleet, the Sea Sovereign and the Great Sea King, are both first-class warships with 90 guns each. There are three second-class main battleships and thirteen third-class main battleships. Including the Black Sea First Fleet, this Imperial fleet has a total of two first-class warships, four second-class warships, and twenty third-class warships, totaling twenty-six sea giants. With such an array, even if we encounter the French Toulon Fleet, we have a chance to fight."

  The Minister of Finance said with a frown: "But this way, the fleet's departure will incur another military expense."

  The Minister of War immediately seconded the motion, which caused a momentary dissatisfaction from the Minister of Navy.

  Cheap dad waved his hand to indicate no need to argue about this matter, as the money was worth it.

  What's more shocking than a massive army is the arrival of a giant sea monster, those warships and cannons are the real deal, the Empire's hard power! No wonder they're called cheap dads. After this Imperial Navy, which is no less powerful than the French Toulon fleet, shows off its might in the Western Mediterranean, news comes that the Imperial Army is expanding, laying a solid foundation for our next plan.

  Cheap old dad left the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Political Affairs, and the Deputy Minister of Military Affairs at the same time, and also left Alexander.

  This is a bit strange and also means I have to go home by myself.

  As I walked along the gleaming marble corridor, a heavy footstep made me think for a moment that Maurice had arrived.

  "Little brother, wait!"

  Turning back to look, it was that uncle in his fifties, weighing over 200 pounds, who was hurrying over with a gasping breath.

  "Brother Marcus," I said to the man sitting in the Minister of Posts' chair, a complete waste of space if it weren't for the fact that our family now judges a person's position by their loyalty. "What can I do for you?"

  "You see, cousin, we're relatives, so with the fine weather outside, I thought it'd be a good idea to go somewhere and deepen our imperial family's bond." Marcus said, his face inches from mine.

  Anyway, having nothing else to do, I casually asked: "Brother, where are you going to take me to strengthen the bond between our imperial families?"

  Marcus grinned, his eyes narrowing to slits as he rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Of course we're going to have some fun! The best one in Constantinople, on the banks of the Daphne River! They say that's where Emperor Justinian himself found his true love, Empress Theodora!"

  The two guards standing at the gate looked at each other with a confused expression, I didn't need to look at their eyes to know what that meant, "I've long heard that the imperial family is like this, but I never thought that my elder brother would actually bring his younger brother to a brothel to strengthen their bond, heaven knows whether they'll be playing a pincer movement from front and back or top and bottom later."

  "Is my brother implying that I will marry a prostitute from a brothel as my queen?" I asked with a sly smile.

  "What?! No, no, no!!" Marcus gesticulated wildly, "I mean the courtesans there are beautiful! The really beautiful kind, individual red cards, one night costs at least 5,000 solars!"

  "Five thousand Sori, those people's meat is really expensive. How about this, since it's to improve our relationship, we won't go to that kind of place and save our brother tens of thousands of Sori. Is our brother happy now? Do you feel like our brotherly love has grown closer?" I teased.

  "Yes, yes, I suddenly feel that my younger cousin is so considerate!"

  "Alright, what does this cousin of mine want to discuss or resolve with me? Let's go outside and talk while we walk."

  In the empty courtyard outside, Marcus explained his intention. As a royal family, as an ambitious and idealistic royal family, as a close relative of the Saofano family and a noble purple-blooded royal family by blood, he felt great pressure and did not want to sit in the position of Minister of Posts and Telegraphs anymore.

  Stunned and bewildered, with all sorts of feelings, when did this drunken and dreamy fat pig have such an epiphany?

  "I'd like to know the reason."

  "There are many reasons, you see how fiercely everyone discussed at the recent meeting, I couldn't get a word in edgewise, those tariffs and tax rates and bond stocks you were talking about, they're all Greek to me, once they enter my ears, I really can't make sense of what they mean." Marcus moved his thick lips, his face flushed red with embarrassment, it took him great effort to admit that he didn't understand.

  I subconsciously looked out at the trees on the street outside.

  "Little brother, what are you looking at?"

  "I'm looking for pigs climbing trees."

  "Found it?"

  "No."

  I guess my facial expression was too sarcastic, Marcus couldn't bear it, his eyes dodged around, and he rubbed his hands nervously: "To be honest, I actually want to become a man like Caesar! A noblewoman I'm pursuing said that only when I become a great man like Caesar will she consider accepting me."

  "Your road is obviously long and arduous." I didn't pierce the noblewoman's little mind, "Then you prepared that proposal for the meeting?"

  Markus couldn't understand: "Yes, but I don't understand why Caesar doesn't recognize it. It's obviously good, can reduce expenses and improve operational efficiency."

  I asked this naive elder brother of mine: "Do you know how much a horse costs?"

  "Of course, the postal service doesn't need to buy good horses, inferior ones can be had for 70 or 80 solari each, and even if they bought a hundred of them, it would still be covered by the savings from layoffs."

  "Does that uncle know how postmen work?" I asked again.

  "I'm not quite sure about that, I suppose the postman is always waiting for letters to deliver. Those lazy guys, even I know that letters can't appear frequently, sometimes they don't have to work at all!" Marcus replied.

  This uncle is indeed talented in being a salary thief, having been the Minister of Posts for over ten years, yet he still doesn't understand how his postal workers work! I'm too lazy to bother talking to him: "Uncle's intention was good, but he forgot what time it is now."

  "It's afternoon now, haha, I didn't forget!"

  I'm a bit tempted to say: "What I mean is that now is the time when the empire is facing a food crisis! During this period, we cannot and should not fire anyone!"

  "Ah, why?"

  "Suppose your brother-in-law is a person living in Constantinople working for the empire, and he only gets 15 solidi per month. At this time, the price of grain rises, and what was originally one solidus worth of grain becomes two solidi worth of grain. What would you think?"

  "Shouldn't be too happy?"

  "That's good, so the grain price goes back to its original price, but you've lost your job, what are your thoughts on that."

  "Anger?"

  "So now you understand?"

  "What's going on?"

  "We can't stabilize the empire's food prices by letting some imperial citizens go hungry. Those postal workers, who earn only 3 solis silver coins a month, are doing part-time and relatively easy work! As long as they are locals and can walk, now my cousin's proposal is to dismiss some people, which has little impact on young people, they are still strong and can find work in the local area, but those who are old and weak, they may rely on this kind of errand work to support themselves and their families! Now you want to dismiss 7,000 or 8,000 people at once, my cousin, how many families do you want to separate? Have you thought about the consequences of doing so?" As I spoke, my voice involuntarily grew louder.

  Marcus wept, his face contorted in anguish. "Oh God, oh Lord!" he exclaimed hastily. "I didn't mean to harm anyone! But Caesar will think I did it on purpose! Believe me, my cousin, I just wanted to make a good impression before Caesar, those advisors are the ones who suggested this! What am I going to do now...?"

  Looking at this big fat cousin rushing around beside me, I sighed. He's so useless, it really damages the image of my cheap old dad.

  The big fat man bowed his waist and pulled at my sleeve, pleading: "Young master, help me out!"

  "Why look for me?"

  "Because I think you're a genius, little brother! A genius who can guide me to become as great as Caesar!"

  "Alright, I'll try my best." I rolled my eyes. Being praised by someone like him made me feel no sense of accomplishment at all. But there was nothing I could do about it - after all, he was a staunch supporter of our faction, and if he messed up, others would say that my old man had poor judgment, even though he'd been the nominal Minister of Posts for over a decade already.

  Marcus exclaimed with joy: "What should we do now?"

  "Let's get a reasonable proposal ready. Also, didn't your brother say he wanted to find out the number of people who were underreporting? Go ask the Ministry of Government Affairs for a copy of the imperial household registration records, and then retrieve a list of postal workers from all over the country from your Ministry of Posts. We'll slowly audit and verify them. Oh, and call in those advisors of yours too. Let them come help!"

  "Is it still possible to get another proposal?"

  "It's just in time, the formal documents will be passed down at the royal court meeting a few days later, as long as my brother can handle it during this period, there won't be any problem."

  "Alright, alright, I'll go right away!"

  The big fat master's elder brother did not know what kind of unpleasant errand he should undertake next, gazing at the figure that was walking away with quick steps.

  I laughed, this kind of person is better off as a corpse or a good corpse.